Watch: Startups take flight at SkyDeck in downtown Berkeley

UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator, which launched bike rental company Lime, robot delivery service Kiwi, and microchip designer Chirp, among many other companies, is pushing even harder into the Wild West of startups.

With a serial entrepreneur at its helm, and a venture capital-backed fund so popular it’s now closed to new investors, the university’s startup arm is doubling in size, taking over a new floor in its downtown Berkeley building, and is poised to profit from the companies it helps create (and funds to the tune of $100,000 each).

The hard part is ensuring the fledgling companies survive past the startup phase. A lack of office space in Berkeley also doesn’t guarantee they will stay in the city if they do take off. Watch our short video above for the story — Evelyn Nussenbaum

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